Manchester High Class of 1961 reunites in West Union for 65th reunion

The Manchester High School Class of 1961 turned a table at Frisch’s in West Union into a reunion of place, memory and county history, gathering May 25, 2026, for its 65th class reunion. Classmates came from Manchester, West Union, Seaman, Batavia, Cincinnati, Lexington, Belleville, Lucasville and West Virginia, a spread that showed how far life carried them while leaving their hometown ties intact. Those present included Osman Baldwin, Helen Ralston McFarland, Shirley Teegarden Pell, Jane White Brown, Robert Tully, Gloria King Grooms, Lois Kirschner Kidd, Larry Jenkins, Phyllis Chandler Trennypohl, Jane Boone Plummer, Jerry Plummer, Herman Bradford and Gary Gemmer.

Once everyone settled in, the conversation moved quickly back to the classrooms, teachers and small mischief that still define a school’s memory long after the building changes. The classmates laughed over Miss Cooley smoking in the little room between the second-floor classrooms, and they remembered the time she tried to grab Gerald Chenault by the hair before settling for shaking him by the ear. They also recalled being called on to recite poetry, including one classmate’s short verse about a frog living in a bog, along with a frog dissection assignment that ran far longer than expected and became one more story the group could still enjoy together.

The evening also made room for those who were no longer there. A roll call of 34 deceased classmates was read, including Ronnie Dryden and Judy Dryden Edwards, who had died just two weeks earlier. Two classmates sent letters to say they regretted missing the reunion, and the class treasury still had money, which the group decided to divide among those attending.

The gathering carried extra meaning in Manchester, where the current Manchester High School building was completed in August 1997, long after the Class of 1961 graduated from Manchester Local Schools. Manchester itself dates to 1790, when it was founded as Massie’s Station before taking the name Manchester the next year, and the village had a population of 1,839 at the 2020 census. Frisch’s in West Union has its own place in that timeline, opening in 1996 and later coming under the ownership of Tena Nickell on Dec. 15, 2023, after she had worked there since the restaurant opened. By night’s end, classmates were talking about meeting every year instead of waiting five years, a sign that the bonds formed in Manchester still matter in Adams County today.